JP5854764B2 - Taxi vehicle control device - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a taxi vehicle control device, and more particularly to a technique for complying with laws and regulations concerning business areas.

  Conventionally, taxi meters and other devices mounted on taxi vehicles have been equipped with functions for efficient taxi operation and functions for collecting operation information useful for operation management at sales offices. .

  For example, in the technique disclosed in Patent Document 1, a GPS receiver is connected to a taximeter to acquire current position information during operation, and boarding place information and getting-off place information for each customer are automatically stored on a memory card. It has a function to record automatically. Specifically, when the in-vehicle device (taximeter) identifies the taxi vehicle's operation status by inputting a button operation by the taxi driver, and detects a change from “arrival, payment” to “empty” Get off at the current location. In addition, boarding area information is created from the current position when a business state rise other than “arrival” is detected.

  Further, when the operation management device on the office side reads data from the memory card in which the operation information is recorded, the information on invalid boarding area data is extracted and a data list of the corresponding information is created. As a result, it is possible to easily obtain information useful for identifying the cause in the case where the cancellation of the “arrival” state occurs.

  Further, Patent Document 2 discloses a technology of a taxi dispatch system that uses an in-vehicle terminal equipped with a function for acquiring position information. Patent Document 2 proposes a technique for reducing the number of nuisance parking taxis around large customers. The vehicle allocation management server acquires location information from the in-vehicle terminal of each taxi vehicle and performs management for vehicle allocation. Specifically, a dispatching exclusion area is allocated around a large customer, and control is performed so that a dispatching command is not issued to taxis existing in this area.

JP 2010-146354 A JP 2009-223733 A

  By the way, taxis operating in Japan have business areas defined by laws and regulations. This law stipulates that you must not conduct business outside the business area where either the origin or the landing exists. The business area is established for the purpose of adjusting the supply and demand of taxis within the area, and the fare setting is the same within the area.

  In other words, if the number of taxis operating in the same area increases too much, it will be difficult for taxi operators to continue continuous sales activities. It limits the number of taxis that can be operated in the area.

  In reality, taxi vehicles move in various places, so each taxi vehicle may go out of the business area assigned to it. Accordingly, when the employee enters the business area, the business is terminated, and the business is resumed after returning to the business area again. Such a business closing / resuming action is performed at the discretion of the driver of each taxi vehicle.

  However, there is a possibility that the driver may mistakenly grasp the situation of whether or not the current location is within the business area. There is a possibility that it will end. There may also be troubles between taxi drivers and customers. For example, if a customer who finds a taxi vehicle traveling outside the business area tries to get in this taxi and the driver refuses to ride the customer according to the law, the customer will be rejected unfairly. Will be distrusted by the taxi driver and taxi company concerned.

  For example, in the case of a large taxi company, it is possible to configure a vehicle allocation system as disclosed in Patent Document 2, and the sales office always keeps track of the current location of each vehicle, and it is outside the business area. It may be possible to give an instruction to the taxi driver so as not to open the bus. However, in the case of a small taxi company or private business, the driver of each vehicle must make his own judgment.

  This invention is made | formed in view of the situation mentioned above, The objective is to provide the control apparatus for taxi vehicles useful for complying with the law regarding a business area.

In order to achieve the above-described object, a taxi vehicle control device according to the present invention is characterized by the following (1) to (3).
(1) A taxi vehicle control device that can be mounted on a taxi vehicle as a vehicle-mounted device,
A reference position information holding unit for holding reference position information indicating a predetermined business area for taxi sales;
A position information acquisition unit for acquiring information indicating the current position of the taxi vehicle;
Compare the latest current position acquired by the position information acquisition unit with the reference position information held by the reference position information holding unit, and automatically identify whether it is inside the business area , Based on recognizing that the current position is outside the business area, a main body display part that is a part of the taxi system main body mounted on the taxi vehicle, and a windshield near the taxi vehicle Based on the fact that the display of the two places of the set wind sign indicator is controlled to the first state indicating that the business is not possible, and the current position is recognized to be inside the business area, And a taxi control unit that controls the display of the two places to the second state indicating that the display can be operated .
(2) The taxi vehicle control device according to (1) above,
The taxi control unit is configured not to accept an input operation for setting the operation state of the taximeter to an actual vehicle state based on recognizing that the current position is outside the business area. Is configured to accept the input operation based on recognizing that it is inside the business area.
(3) The taxi vehicle control device according to (1) above,
Based on the fact that the current position is outside the business area, the taxi control unit sets the display contents of the two locations to “forward” and the current position is inside the business area. The display contents of the two places are set to “rental” or “actual vehicle” based on recognizing that there is a certain thing and recognizing that the input operation has been performed .

According to the taxi vehicle control device having the configuration of (1) above, the result of identifying whether the current vehicle position is a businessable position is reflected in the display, so the taxi driver makes his own judgment. Eliminates the need to ensure compliance with business area laws. In addition, since it is possible to distinguish whether the customer outside the taxi car, taxi crew or passengers is a taxi that can be operated from the displayed state, it is possible to prevent troubles related to the business area from occurring. .
According to the taxi vehicle control device having the above configuration ( 2 ), since the taxi meter does not switch to the actual vehicle state outside the business area, it is possible to reliably prevent illegal business activities due to the taxi driver's misjudgment. Is possible.

  The taxi vehicle control device of the present invention can be used to comply with laws and regulations relating to business areas. In other words, the result of identifying whether or not the current vehicle position is a business-friendly position is reflected in the display, so the taxi driver does not have to make a decision on his own and is sure to comply with the laws and regulations concerning the business area. Is possible.

  The present invention has been briefly described above. Further, details of the present invention will be further clarified by reading through the modes for carrying out the invention described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration example of a taxi vehicle control device. FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing main operations of the taxi vehicle control device.

  Specific embodiments of the taxi vehicle control device of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

<Device configuration>
A configuration example of a taxi vehicle control device in the present embodiment is shown in FIG. This taxi vehicle control device is a vehicle-mounted device mounted on a taxi vehicle. In the example shown in FIG. 1, it is assumed that the taxi vehicle is integrated with a taxi meter indispensable for taxi business. However, it is also conceivable that the taxi vehicle control device is configured as a vehicle-mounted device different from the taximeter and is used by being connected to the taximeter.

  The taxi vehicle control device shown in FIG. 1 includes a taxi system main body 100, a GPS receiver 10, an ETC vehicle-mounted device 20, a memory card 30, an operation unit 40, an external device input device 50, a wind sign control box 60, and a wind sign. A display 65 is provided. Note that a vehicle speed pulse output from the vehicle side is input to the speed input of the taxi system body 100. Based on the number and cycle of the vehicle speed pulses, information on the travel distance and the vehicle speed can be calculated.

  The taxi system main body 100 includes a microcomputer 110, a memory 120, a main body display unit 130, a clock circuit 140, and interfaces (I / F) 151 to 155.

  The GPS receiver 10 receives radio waves arriving from a plurality of GPS (Global Positioning System) satellites, and can obtain the current position (latitude / longitude) of the vehicle as a reception point from the received signal by calculation.

  The ETC in-vehicle device 20 can communicate with an ETC communication facility installed in the vicinity of an entrance / exit of a toll road such as an expressway, and can acquire toll information or settle a toll.

  The memory card 30 has a built-in nonvolatile memory, and is mainly used for recording information related to taxi operation. For example, every time a customer gets on and off, information such as the position of the boarding place, the boarding time, the position of the boarding place, the time of getting off, the fare, and the travel distance is recorded by the taximeter. In the present embodiment, constant data (reference position information) representing the taxi serviceable area is registered in the memory card 30 in advance.

  The operation unit 40 is provided with various buttons necessary for the taxi crew to operate the taximeter. Typical buttons include “actual vehicle button”, “payment button”, “empty vehicle button”, and “forward button”.

  The wind sign display 65 is installed in the vicinity of the windshield of the taxi vehicle, and can display information representing the taxi's operating state so that it can be seen by customers outside the taxi car, passengers in the car, and the like. Information that can be displayed includes “forwarding”, “empty car”, “rental”, and the like.

  The wind sign (W / S) control box 60 can control the display state of the wind sign display 65 in accordance with an instruction from the taxi system main body 100.

  The microcomputer 110 of the taxi system main body 100 performs processing for realizing various functions required for the taxi system main body 100 by reading and executing a program prepared in advance. Details of the processing will be described later.

  The memory 120 includes a memory (RAM) that can freely write and read data and a read-only memory (ROM). The RAM is used by the microcomputer 110 to hold temporary data. The ROM holds in advance programs and constant data used by the microcomputer 110.

  The main body display unit 130 is composed of a liquid crystal display (LCD), and numerical values such as fare and mileage, and taxi meter operating status ("forwarding", "empty car", "actual car", "payment", etc.) It has a function of displaying information representing the information so that it can be seen by taxi crews and passengers.

  A clock circuit (real time clock: RTC) 140 is an integrated circuit having a clock function. The clock circuit 140 can generate information representing the current date and time (hour, minute, second) or information representing the elapsed time from a certain time by counting clock pulses with a stable period. .

  The interface 151 has a slot in which the memory card 30 can be inserted. The microcomputer 110 can access the memory card 30 via the interface 151 to read data and write data.

  The interfaces 152 to 155 perform predetermined signal processing necessary for connecting the external device input device 50, the wind sign control box 60, the GPS receiver 10, and the ETC in-vehicle device 20 to the microcomputer 110, respectively.

<Operation of the device>
The contents of main operations of the taxi vehicle control device shown in FIG. 1 are shown in FIG. In FIG. 2, the description regarding the operation of a general taximeter is omitted. The operation shown in FIG. 2 will be described below.

  The GPS receiver 10 proceeds from step S11 to S12 every time a fixed time (1 second in this example) elapses. In step S <b> 12, the GPS receiver 10 receives radio waves from GPS satellites, calculates the latitude / longitude of the current position based on the received signal, and transmits the calculated position data to the taxi system body 100.

  On the other hand, when the system power is turned on and power is supplied to the microcomputer 110 itself, the microcomputer 110 of the taxi system main body 100 proceeds to the process of step S21 and displays that it is in the “empty vehicle” state.

  Specifically, the microcomputer 110 gives an instruction to the wind sign control box 60 via the interface 153 and displays the characters “empty car” on the wind sign display 65. At the same time, the characters “empty car” are also displayed on the main body display unit 130.

  In the next step S22, the microcomputer 110 identifies whether or not the latest current position data has been received from the GPS receiver 10. If the current position data is received, the process proceeds to the next step S23.

  In step S23, the latest current position data received from the GPS receiver 10 is compared with the reference position information representing the taxi business area held in the memory card 30, and the inside / outside of the business area is determined. Identify automatically.

As a specific example, it is assumed that a large number of representative coordinates representing a line segment of an outline surrounding the outer periphery of a designated business area is held in the memory card 30 as the reference position information. In that case, two reference position information in the vicinity of the current position is extracted, and by comparing the coordinates of the line segment connecting them with the coordinates of the current position, it is identified whether the current position is inside or outside the business area can do.
If it is inside the business area, the process proceeds from step S23 to S24, and if it is outside, the process proceeds to S29.

  In step S <b> 24, the microcomputer 110 recognizes that the current position is inside the business area where the current position is designated and is in a businessable state, and permits the operation of the “actual vehicle button” of the operation unit 40. That is, an input operation to the “actual vehicle button” for operating the taximeter is read, and this input is switched to a state where the taximeter can accept.

  In step S25, the microcomputer 110 identifies whether or not the “actual vehicle button” has been pressed. If the “actual vehicle button” is pressed, the process proceeds to the next S26, and if not pressed, the process returns to S22. In other words, when a new customer gets in the “empty” state and starts running, the taxi crew starts operating by pressing the “actual vehicle button”.

  In step S26, it is displayed that this taxi vehicle is in the “actual vehicle” state. That is, the microcomputer 110 controls the wind sign control box 60 via the interface 153 and switches the display content of the wind sign display 65 to “rental” (or actual vehicle). At the same time, the characters “rental” (or actual vehicle) are also displayed on the main body display unit 130.

  When a taxi vehicle that has started traveling with passengers arrives at the destination and settles the passenger fare, the taxi crew presses the “payment button” on the taximeter. The microcomputer 110 detects this button operation in step S27, and proceeds to the next step S28.

  When the passenger's fare is settled and the passenger gets off and enters an empty state, the taxi driver presses the “empty button” on the taximeter to shift to a state where the next business is possible. When the microcomputer 110 detects this button operation in step S28, the process returns to step S21.

  In step S29, the microcomputer 110 recognizes that the current position is outside the designated business area and is in an inoperable state, and switches to the “forward” display to inform the customer of this state. That is, the microcomputer 110 controls the window sign control box 60 via the interface 153 and switches the display content of the window sign display 65 to “forward”. At the same time, the characters “forward” are also displayed on the main body display unit 130.

  In step S <b> 30, the microcomputer 110 prohibits the operation of the “actual vehicle button” of the operation unit 40. That is, it switches to the state which does not receive input operation with respect to the "actual vehicle button" for operating a taximeter.

<Supplementary explanation of operation>
Since the taxi vehicle control device shown in FIG. 1 is installed in the taxi vehicle, the inside or outside of the business area is automatically identified in step S23 of FIG. It is possible to reliably prevent a violation of laws and regulations from occurring.

  Further, when the taxi vehicle goes outside the business area, the operation of the actual vehicle button is automatically prohibited in step S30, and when entering the business area again, the operation of the actual vehicle button is permitted in step S24. It becomes possible to prevent a crew member from operating the wrong button.

  Further, when the taxi vehicle goes outside the business area, “forward” is automatically displayed on the wind sign display 65 in step S29, so that it is impossible to operate even if the crew does not operate a special button. The customer outside the vehicle can be informed that the condition is present. Further, when entering the inside of the business area again, the display of the wind sign display 65 automatically switches to “empty car” in step S21, so that it is possible to notify the customer outside the car that it is in a state where it can be operated. Therefore, troubles between the customer and the crew can be prevented in advance, and the crew's button operation is simplified.

<Possibility of device deformation>
In the taxi vehicle control device shown in FIG. 1, a removable memory card 30 is used as a reference position information holding unit for holding reference position information representing a business area. For the reference position information holding unit, a ROM (120) in the taxi system main body 100 or an internal memory of the microcomputer 110 may be used.

  In the above-described embodiment, it is assumed that information on coordinates representing latitude / longitude of each position is held as reference position information representing a business area. For example, information such as place names and addresses is held. Also good. In that case, for example, search the database of the map based on the coordinates of the current position, obtain the place name and address of the area to which the current position belongs, and compare it with the reference position information to determine whether it is inside the business area Can be identified.

  In addition, if the on-board device such as taxi meter is equipped with a function to output sound, when it goes outside the business area, it outputs a sound such as “I went outside the business area” When returning to the inside of the vehicle, a voice output such as “I entered the business area” may be performed to guide the crew members by voice.

10 GPS receiver (location information acquisition unit)
20 ETC on-board unit 30 Memory card (reference position information holding unit)
40 Operation Unit 50 External Device Input Device 60 Wind Sign Control Box 65 Wind Sign Display 100 Taxi System Main Body 110 Microcomputer (Taxi Control Unit)
120 Memory 130 Main Display 140 Clock Circuit 151-155 Interface

Claims (3)

A taxi vehicle control device that can be mounted on a taxi vehicle as a vehicle-mounted device,
A reference position information holding unit for holding reference position information indicating a predetermined business area for taxi sales;
A position information acquisition unit for acquiring information indicating the current position of the taxi vehicle;
Compare the latest current position acquired by the position information acquisition unit with the reference position information held by the reference position information holding unit, and automatically identify whether it is inside the business area , Based on recognizing that the current position is outside the business area, a main body display part that is a part of the taxi system main body mounted on the taxi vehicle, and a windshield near the taxi vehicle Based on the fact that the display of the two places of the set wind sign indicator is controlled to the first state indicating that the business is not possible, and the current position is recognized to be inside the business area, A taxi control unit that controls the display of the two places to the second state indicating that it can be operated ;
The taxi vehicle control device according to claim 1, comprising: The taxi control unit is configured not to accept an input operation for setting the operation state of the taximeter to an actual vehicle state based on recognizing that the current position is outside the business area. 2. The taxi vehicle control device according to claim 1, wherein the input operation is received based on the recognition that the vehicle is inside the business area. Based on the fact that the current position is outside the business area, the taxi control unit sets the display contents of the two locations to “forward” and the current position is inside the business area. Based on the fact that it has been recognized and that the input operation has been recognized, the display contents of the two places are set to “rental” or “actual vehicle”.
The taxi vehicle control device according to claim 2 .

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